I Have So Many E-Book Ideas That I Don’t Know Where to Start

Writers who have dozens of great ideas for book-length works are fortunate. Perhaps you want to produce nonfiction e-books to sell — and you can reasonably specialize in several topics. Maybe you’ve mapped out a fantasy trilogy — along with a couple of thrillers, a cozy crime novel, and a few romances. Perhaps you enjoy (as I do) writing both fiction and nonfiction, and you’re unsure which genre to tackle first.

This problem sometimes presents itself as “I have nothing to write about.” If you have lots of ideas bubbling away in your mind, pulling one to the surface to focus on can be difficult. Try these tips to help narrow your list of possible topics:

1. To start, write down all your ideas.

Create a list of titles and topics — ideally, adding a few notes about the general scope of each one.

Don’t judge your ideas now. Some might seem silly or unworkable, but you never know what they might lead to.

2. After you create a list, consider where best to start:

• For your first e-book, choose an idea that’s easily implemented. If your book requires a ton of research or if it’s likely to take five years to write, you might get stuck partway. (If you do, see the next problem and solution.)

• If you’re writing nonfiction, make sure that an audience for that e-book exists. Don’t pick an idea only because you love it. (Ask your existing readers to help you choose among three or four options.)

• If you’re writing fiction, though, choose a topic that you genuinely love rather than one that you believe will be easy to market. Remember that with fiction, you’re selling entertainment value rather than informative content.